 |
| The Francigena Road |
|
|
|
Near our Park and Nature Reserve “Lake Sibolla” in Altopascio there is the Francigena Road which in the Middle Ages was covered by Bishops, Saints, Taders, Pilgrims and Warriors who starting from Canterbury wanted to go to Rome.
This road passed through Altopascio, where there was the famous hotel and hospital of Tau's Knights and went on towards Fucecchio. Pilgrims stopped also in Lucca to worship “Christ' s holy face” in the Cathedral . The villages around Lucca are, in fact, described by the historians of the time.
Near Altopascio the road followed a small path hidden by the wood and reached the hospital of Santa Caterina in Cerbaia, named “Ospedaletto”. Even if it does not exist any more, the hospital is still marked in the maps of the XIVth century as the Tau's Knight of Altopascio Hospital.
The medieval route, after crossing the woods of Le Cerbaie, went down to Ponte a Cappiano where a bridge permitted the pilgrims to cross the Usciana river and go on towards Fucecchio.
Another route, called Francigena Road of Sanbuca, connected Bologna and Pistoia, winding down the Apennines, going through Signorino and reaching Pistoia quite easily. There in St. Zeno Cathedral the pilgrims worshipped the relics of St. James of Compostela.
In 1994 The Road of Faith received the recognition of “The European Cultural Itinerary” from the Europen Council
|
|
|
